Games Inbox: Pre-order problems, PS Jailbreak, and Radiant Silvergun

Transformers: War For Cybertron – pre-order characters, you can only have one

Always missing outWhen pre-order rewards are a free gift such as a T-shirt, DVD or some other novelty then it’s a nice incentive. My Mirror’s Edge T-shirt is a personal favourite. An email from GAME arrived this morning highlighting all that I disagree with, pre-order Medal of Honor to receive extra in-game content unlocked from day one.It’s not clear from the blurb on the GAME website whether this content is unlockable or downloadable for those who don’t pre-order or buy from elsewhere but the words ‘instant access’ and ‘day one’ would seem to indicate that it will be downloadable at a later date.I find it a real put-off when I see exclusive in-game content offered as a pre-order, be it levels, characters, costumes or equipment. It always appears that someone else is going to lose out. What does GC make of this practice of offering content for pre-orders?Philip ReedGC:We have the same concerns, especially when different shops offer different unlocks – so you have to miss out on something no matter where you buy from. (Although everything is usually released later as paid-for content, but that’s no excuse.)It’s not the hours, it’s the mileageNot sure about W Kotarski’s pound per hour suggestion. It was that approach which vastly stretched games and introduced boring fetch quests to pad them out. Take the two Uncharted games at current online prices, they cost £30 for a combined total of 30 hours play: £1 per hour. (At launch £3/h). Or alternatively you can now spend £25 on the 50 hours of Final Fantasy XIII: £0.5/h (At launch £1/h). All three games are well known and generally reviewed favourably and I am ignoring the online mode of Uncharted 2.If price was the only factor why would anyone ever play Uncharted? Final Fantasy XIII offers far better value for money?I spent £60 on the Final Fantasy XIII special edition and due to my Japanese role-playing OCD spent 120 hours mining the Platinum trophy: (£0.5/h which is still amazing value compared to most games?) However I found the majority of that time was tedious and boring, especially the first 30 hours. Yet the combined five playthroughs of the Uncharted games totalling 60 hours at a cost of £60 was a pure joy for every second: (£1/h). So even after replaying the Uncharted games multiple times Final Fantasy XIII is better value? Well, I completely disagree with that. Surely value for money should be measured on enjoyment not on how many hours the game spent occupying your time?I also think the shorter, better paced God Of War III was far superior and better value than the bloated God Of War II; even though the first sequel had the better set pieces. And I happily spent £40 on Portal: (£8/h) which is one of the best value games ever. (I never played Team Fortress 2 and already owned Half-Life 2 on a different format. So they were just bonus features to me).PazJohnMitchKarma chameleonRE: The PS Jailbreak news item today, the words karma and ironic seem very appropriate. I like the idea of being able to play my games straight off the hard drive, especially if the claims of faster loading and smoother gameplay are true. All PS Jailbreak’s makers had to do to appease Sony was to make having contact between the dongle and original game disc a requirement each time said game was played.I’m against video game piracy and if this mod can be used to play pirated software then I’ve got no sympathy for the makers of this chip now that it turns out their intellectual property is turning up free all over the Internet.We pay good money for our games and even more for the hardware, if the optimum way to play our games is off the hard drive, Sony and Microsoft should have made this possible right out of the box, but since when have console makers given us what we want?mitchell

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

Treasure troveXbox Live Arcade is getting more and more interesting every day. I have very fond memories of Bangai-O on the Dreamcast, particularly the bizarre nonsensical humour, so I’ll definitely be getting this. At just 800 Points I’d be stupid not to.What do you reckon to the chances of a Radiant Silvergun port appearing at some point in the future? Inbox magic perhaps?Uncleprawn (gamertag)GC:Saturn games are notoriously difficult to emulate, so Radiant Silvergun may not be as easy to do as you’d think. We’re sure Treasure are aware of the fan interest though.Worth a lookJust wanted to say that I thought that Dead Rising: Case Zero was well worth the 400 Points that I paid. I wasn’t a big fan of the first game but for the price I thought I’d take a chance and was impressed. The only bad part was riding off on the motorbike at the end, the handling was terrible.TopSnot GPF (gamertag)A site that can helpI have recently bought and been enjoying Dragon Quest Chapters of The Chosen for the DS and have played over 35 hrs and have collected all the Zenithian items apart from the armor. The problem I have is that the armor is in one of the caves that you can only access with your boat. Now I am using the balloon and no longer have the boat. Is there anyway around this or do I have to start the whole game again?? Am I missing something. Help please!!King StarGC:We don’t really do game hints, not least because it’s always easier to just visit GameFAQs. Here’s a link to theDragon Quest: Chapters Of The Chosen section.Bring back the horrorCouldn’t agree more with The Master regarding Resident Evil – for ages I’ve longed for an old style Resi game, even if it means clunky controls and bad voice acting. At least those games had atmosphere and personality as opposed to derivative John Woo aspirations.VietnamvetThe perfect trade-inI was eager to play Kane & Lynch 2 but was reticent to purchase it after reading your review, but I’m assuming a considerable number of people also read your review because Play.com had slashed the price to a meagre £18 and I was unable to resist getting it.I completed it in roughly the same time that it would take Paris Hilton to figure out how to work a kettle, but was shocked when I traded it in and received £23 credit, meaning that I actually made a profit on the game. Now that is a bargain, especially since the game is now full price again.iLike Fat Ladys(gamertag)/Selfish_Lover18(PSN ID)PS: You were right, it is bloody awful….Inbox also-ransNow that is how you do a demo. Vanquish is now my number one buy of the year.DlSPOSABLE HERO (gamertag)Don’t know much about cables but… got an Xbox 360 Mad Catz HD VGA cable (including fibre optic audio cable) for £4 from HMV. Sounds like a bargain and it comes in a big sexy chunky box.Mintz‘Erotically nerdish’ is now my favourite review phrase of all time.mark freemanRE: stephen Crawford. I am from Belfast and have seen many crazy things, but alas leprechauns are not one of them. Shame, would like to stroke their little beards. Suppose I could go to Dublin though, there seems plenty down there if TV is to be believed.daddy ging (gamertag)E-mail your comments to:gamecentral@ukmetro.co.ukThe small printNew Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.You can also submit your own 400 to 500-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.If you wish to vote in the Readers’ Top of 2010 simply send us an e-mail with a list of your three favourite games of the year so far. Please vote only for games released in the UK during 2010.